A portable in vivo metabolic and blood analysis system for field and laboratory work

降低的氧气可用性（即，缺氧）对大多数脊椎动物构成了困难的挑战并且是许多临床相关疾病和病理的中心组成部分（例如，心脏病发作、中风、慢性肺病等）。地球上有许多低氧环境，生活在这些环境中的动物已经进化出独特的适应能力，以应对低氧生活的挑战。不幸的是，我们对耐缺氧哺乳动物的系统控制和这些适应的进化起源的理解很差。研究哺乳动物对低氧的生理适应及其潜在的控制对于理解低氧耐受的进化起源至关重要。为了解决这一知识缺口，Pamenter实验室研究了哺乳动物缺氧耐受的自然进化机制，重点是调节缺氧通气和代谢的脑干控制中心。重要的是，许多最耐缺氧的物种没有商业化，必须在野外进行研究，通常是在非常偏远的地方。在这些条件下进行实地工作需要专门的设备。*本RTI申请中要求的设备包括：1）高度便携、耐用和独立（包括电源和数据存储）的气体检测系统，用于测量整个动物呼吸气体，作为代谢率的间接但准确的测量，以及2）同样便携的血液分析仪，能够测量血气特性、酸碱状态和其他代谢物。有了这个系统，来自Pamenter实验室的HQP将能够通过研究稀有和难以到达的物种来测试关于缺氧适应的新假设，这些物种可能对缺氧生活具有独特的适应性，但以前从未被研究过，例如那些原产于西藏高原和南非平原的物种。** 所要求的系统代表了便携式代谢研究的最新技术水平，适合在清醒和自由行为的动物体内使用，并且相对于模块化台式系统还提供了相当大的成本节约。更重要的是，该系统耐用且便携，因此适用于要求苛刻的现场环境以及经典的大学实验室环境。该系统将由Pamenter博士的运营赠款维护和支持，并将由他的小组和渥太华大学的其他研究小组的HQP立即每天使用。这对发展和扩大几项正在进行的国际合作也至关重要。由该设备支持的HQP驱动的研究有望推进我们对哺乳动物适应缺氧的机制和进化起源的认识，并为治疗缺氧相关疾病和病理的临床策略提供信息。

Reduced oxygen availability (i.e., hypoxia) poses a difficult challenge to most vertebrates and is a central component of many clinically-relevant diseases and pathologies (e.g., heart attack, stroke, chronic pulmonary disorders, etc.). There are numerous hypoxic environments on earth and animals that live in these niches have evolved unique adaptations to meet the challenges of life in hypoxia. Unfortunately, our understanding of the systemic control and evolutionary origins of these adaptations in hypoxia-tolerant mammals is poor. Investigating physiological adaptations to hypoxia and their underlying control in a wide range of phylogenetically distinct mammals is critical to understanding the evolutionary origins of hypoxia-tolerance. To address this knowledge gap, the Pamenter laboratory studies naturally-evolved mechanisms of hypoxia-tolerance in mammals, with an emphasis on the brainstem control centers that regulate ventilation and metabolism in hypoxia. Critically, many of the most hypoxia-tolerant species are not commercially available and must be studied in the field, often in very remote locations. Conducting field work under these conditions requires specialized equipment.******The equipment requested in this RTI application comprises 1) a highly portable, durable, and self-contained (including power supply and data storage) gas detection system for the measurement of whole animal respiratory gases as an indirect but accurate measure of metabolic rate, and 2) an equally portable blood analyzer capable of measuring blood-gas properties, acid-base status, and other metabolites. With this system, HQP from the Pamenter laboratory will be able to test novel hypotheses regarding adaptations to hypoxia by studying rare and difficult to reach species that likely have unique adaptations to life in hypoxia but which have never been previously studied, such as those native to the Tibetan plateau and the plains of South Africa. ******The requested system represents the state of the art in portable metabolic investigations suitable for in vivo use in awake and freely behaving animals, and also offers considerable cost-savings relative to modular benchtop systems. More importantly, this system is durable and portable and is therefore suitable for use in both demanding field settings as well as in a classic university laboratory setting. The system will be maintained and supported by the operating grants of Dr. Pamenter and will be used immediately, and on a daily basis, by HQP from his group and other research groups at the University of Ottawa. It will also be critical to the development and expansion of several ongoing international collaborations. HQP-driven research supported by this equipment is expected to advance our knowledge of the mechanisms and evolutionary origins of mammalian adaptation to hypoxia, and also to inform clinical strategies for the treatment of hypoxia-related illnesses and pathologies.**